Each day is a gift for you to carefully unwrap. What happens next is up to you. You can cherish every second or let time slip through your fingers. You can live every day with gusto or worry about what tomorrow will bring. You can reach out and make a difference in other people’s lives or focus on more ways to better your own. You are the architect of your life. If you’re constantly worried, stressed out, and in a rush, it’s time to lighten up…and take a deep breath.

While you’re busy, life happens.

Life doesn’t happen to you; you make it happen. Instead of living life to the fullest, we’re all living life on the edge — cramming as much as we can into a day and scrambling to get ahead at all costs. Here are 20 ways to lighten up and lead a more fulfilling life:

20 Ways to Lighten Up

Money’s not worth what you think. Money can buy some things, but it can’t buy everything. As a case in point, it can’t buy strong self-esteem, noble character, abundant memories, deep relationships, lasting peace of mind, a purposeful life, outstanding health, deep spirituality, or a clear conscience.

Some people are nicer to others than themselves. Are you your own worst critic? It’s one thing to expect perfection of yourself, yet quite another to beat yourself up for coming up short.

If you don’t believe in yourself, why should others? When you constantly seek approval, you give more weight to other people’s opinions than to your own.

Make your priorities a priority. If you try too hard to please others, you may fail to satisfy your own needs. Know what matters most to you and be unwilling to compromise those priorities at any price.

Time management can be a waste of time. Do you spend more time looking at your watch than living in the moment? Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance. When you account for every second, you miss precious moments.

Stressed out? You may be doing it to yourself. Do you wait until the last minute, refuse to ask for help, and bite off more than you can chew? Some people complicate their life and then complain that their life is complicated.

Make a life while making a living. Find balance between work and family, acknowledging that both contribute to your happiness and the strength of your relationship.

Don’t believe everything you think. Most things that people worry about never come to pass. What’s more, anticipation is often worse than reality. That said, if you stop worrying, it’ll be one less thing to worry about.

You can’t control the uncontrollable. You can’t control outside events, but you can control how you respond to them. If it’s beyond your control, let it go.

Success is all in your head. Your mindset can work for or against you. If you believe you can’t, you won’t.

Winning doesn’t have to be at someone’s expense. Instead of focusing on what you want, focus on mutual interest — how much you can accomplish with others. Moreover, never win at the expense of a relationship.

Success comes at a cost. Everything worthwhile in life requires an element of sacrifice. If you’re not willing to make the investment, don’t complain about the outcome.

Trying to achieve perfection is anything but perfect. Strive for excellence, not perfection.  Hold yourself to a high standard, not an impossible one. Even if life were a bed of roses, you’d still need to avoid the thorns.

Failing doesn’t make you a failure. Mistakes don’t make you a failure but beating yourself up makes you feel like one.

Someone’s good fortune is not your misfortune. People don’t hurt you by being successful; you hurt yourself by being envious of them. The truth is, the more time you spend vilifying others, the less time you’ll have to make your own dreams come true.

Envy can turn friends into adversaries. Keeping up with the Joneses is like chasing a rainbow. While it might look beautiful from a distance, it will always be beyond your grasp.

Leave the past behind. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting, nor does it mean approving, what someone did. It just means letting go of the anger toward that person.

Toxic people can be dangerous to your health. A lot has been said about the impact that toxic waste has on the environment. Consider the impact that toxic people have on your life.

Never lower your personal standards. Never! If you’re not ready to do something, don’t let others convince you that you are. One of the true tests of integrity is your refusal to compromise your honor at any price.

Success doesn’t always lead to happiness. For some people, life is a competitive sport — more is always better and enough is never enough. The reality is, we place artificial demands on ourselves that undermine our happiness. These demands force us to work harder and harder to cross a finish line that keeps moving.

No one escapes life alive. So, take a deep breath and live every day to the max rather than reliving the past or worrying about the future. The fact is, precious moments pass in the blink of an eye, and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. You can never get those minutes back no matter how hard you try. Life is filled with ups and downs, so make the most of the in-betweens.

Take a Deep Breath and Provide Me With Your Comments.

Please leave a comment and tell us what you think or share it with someone who can benefit from the information.

Additional Reading:
9 Reasons Why Being Busy Is a Shortcoming
24 Ways to Simplify Your Life
Change Your Priorities: Change Your Life
Doing Nothing Is Time Well Spent
30 Powerful Tips to Reduce Stress in Your Life
Inner Peace is a Choice
Are You Too Tough on Yourself?

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